The public health appeal of vaping that emboldens its advocates to sanctimoniously taunt anyone unconvinced by their evangelism as callous “quit or die” moralists is that e-cigarettes are spectacularly promising as a way of quitting smoking. Aware that many vapers also continue to smoke, they point to the seemingly undeniable logic of “every cigarette forgone […]
Category: Columnists
Simon Chapman on e-cigarettes: the best and the worst case scenarios for public health
Use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigs or Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems—ENDS) is showing exponential increase in some nations. Their regular use remains marginal in Australia, where the sale of nicotine liquid is banned (personal imports are legal only if the importer needs nicotine for therapeutic purposes—including to assist with the cessation of smoking. Legal importation of […]
Billy Boland: The importance of challenging the status quo
I had 10 minutes to steel myself as I marched down the Embankment in Leeds for the second residential of the Bevan Programme at the NHS Leadership Academy. Preparing to be the odd man out, I was going to gate crash a different cohort for this next three day stretch. I’d missed out on my […]
William Cayley: Muddling “margin” and “mission.”
“There is mission without margin.” I’ve heard that sentiment time and time again, used to convey the idea that in the healthcare business, while we all agree we want to take care of people, we must after all, stay financially viable in order to do so. In short, if we don’t succeed as a business, […]
Tiago Villanueva: Medical education and healthcare in the Philippines
My Filipino roots and family ties usually take me to the Philippines once a year, but this year my trip was unusual as I had the chance to make contact with the local healthcare and medical education system. This was all unplanned as a relative has been receiving hospital treatment and I ended up visiting […]
Richard Smith: What will robots do when they take us over?
Lord Rees, the Astronomer Royal and former president of the Royal Society, believes that robots might replace human beings within 50-60 years. Looking at writings from him on the web, I’m not sure that’s exactly what he believes, but an audience at the London School of Economics was told he did by his friend Lord […]
Richard Smith: The history of surgery—my contribution
In his book “Adolf Hitler: my part in his downfall,” Spike Milligan modestly suggested that his part had been small. My contribution to the history of surgery is even smaller and much more ignominious, but I’m prompted to tell the tale by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh deciding to make me a fellow. […]
James Raftery: NICE proposes alternative for value based pricing
Recent headlines have indicated NICE’s displeasure at how it has been asked to implement value based pricing. The stories are based on a paper, “Value based assessment of health technologies,” which was considered by the NICE board on 22 January. The paper proposed two main changes: a) an alternative approach to the Wider Social Benefit […]
Julian Sheather: Ugandan anti-homosexuality legislation: bad law, bad science
For all the fanfare that headline science can generate, it is usually quiet science that arouses my sympathies. Carefully uncovered facts can settle like welcome oil, stilling the troubled waters of moral panic and vengeful politics. I am more drawn to the Victorian naturalists who posted songbirds to each other, carefully mapping variation, than to […]
Desmond O’Neill on the power of cinema in discussing medical humanities
One of the pleasures of academic medicine, and a salve for the gentle disorganisation of Irish medical schools, is the initiative, enthusiasm, and broad ranging interests of the medical students and trainees. A recent taste of this was a play on anorexia from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival hosted by medical students at Trinity College Dublin. […]